The world of sports carries a revolution for the LGBTI community through top athletes who come out or campaigns meant to support LGBTI people in sports.
Another top athlete has just come out before participating at Rio Summer Olympics. Víctor Gutiérrez, 25-year-old is part of Spanish water polo team and he decided to reveal his sexuality to the whole world.
The athlete revealed that his friends and family knew about his sexuality, but he considers that the public must know as well. So he made the confession for a Spanish publication.
‘I’m out of the closet in my environment,’ he said for Shangay magazine. ‘My family knows I’m gay, my friends too. And I’m living in such a positive way with my sexuality that I felt a responsibility to share it with others.’
‘There have been more than 70 homophobic attacks in Madrid so far this year,’ he said. ‘It is a reality that we live in. And there are almost no athletes who are out of the closet. But in my experience, people have changed. As an athlete, my experience has been absolutely positive,’ he continued.
Víctor Gutiérrez thinks that elite sports players in Spain should come out publicly to end the preconception that gay people cannot be top sports players.
‘I hope my coming out serves to break a taboo within the sport,’ he said. ‘You have to be judged not by your sexuality but by your sporting merit.’